Running blockchain infrastructure is a great need in the blockchain industry
Every blockchain will need an infrastructure run and maintained by the public. These people are called node operators. These nodes can be a validator node or a data node that provides blockchain data alone in API. There are multiple types of nodes based on the blockchain. The concepts can even differ from one blockchain to another, but the concept of a node requirement for a blockchain can be a common thing.
People do this as a job where they operate a blockchain infrastructure and get paid for the same. Even on Hive blockchain the top node operators who are called witnesses are getting a decent income directly from the inflation. The logic of rewards can be different on other blockchains for node operators. On some of the chains, rewards happen only if people get enough votes from the community. On some of the centralized blockchains, nodes are operated within their organization in different places and a restricted version of it can be run by the public.
Blockchain infrastructure is a big necessity
It is very important to operate a blockchain infrastructure. The main reason is that the blockchain should keep going without stalling and at the same time the blockchain should also go seamlessly without any failures even if one node fails. There can be rules where multiple nodes have to sign the transactions. This logic can differ from one blockchain to another but it is a very big necessity to have a strong blockchain infrastructure. That's one of the primary reasons why people are rewarded because it is not easy to maintain such infrastructure.
Some cloud service providers are against crypto-related projects and services. Especially we cannot do mining-related activities. Other cloud service providers are crypto-friendly and they offer the blockchain in a box.
People interested in DevOps can give this a try
Usually, not all people might be suitable for operating a blockchain node. The reason is that some people may not be very good at handling servers or some people might have good development skills but they may not have DevOps skills. In such cases, it can be hard for people to host and maintain nodes. They can initially find it very hard to grasp all the concepts.
Another big challenge with operating a node is that there can be hardforks happening in a blockchain and people will have to follow all the technical discussions related to that and make sure they do the upgrade at the right time without any issues. This is another strong reason why operating a blockchain node is not for everyone.
Innovations around blockchain infrastructure
People who initially explore a blockchain node to operate them gradually start looking at the code and also start contributing. For some people who have enough time with them to check the code, this can be a great thing. Apart from running the node alone, people also come up with some innovations around a node. Innovations can be in such a way that the API consumed by the public can be improved and the data stored and retrieved can be improved. These are some of the things that the general public can involved in and get done. Some dApp developers are innovative about these things when they need their application. Sometimes they also make it public for others to consume.